How to Create a Surreal Giraffe Photo Manipulation With Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I'll show you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a surreal giraffe using a variety of photo manipulation techniques.

First we'll build the base scene using images of a meadow and the sky. Later we'll add the giraffe, create a neck from a twisted tree, and add some branches. After that, we'll import a standing bird and some flying ones, and we'll add leaves and grass blades. We'll use several adjustment/color fill layers to complete the final effect.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

1. How to Build the Base Scene

Step 1

Create a new 1500 x 1500 px document in Photoshop with the given settings:

Step 2

Go to Layer > New Layer > Color Fill and pick the color #70dce3.

Step 3

Open the sky image. Drag this image into the cyan canvas using the Move Tool (V) and place it in the upper half.

Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to
this layer. Activate the Brush Tool (B) and use a soft round one with
black color (soft black brush) with the Opacity about 30% to reduce the
visibility of the clouds in the sky on the top left.

Step 4

Create a Color Balance adjustment layer above the sky and set it as
Clipping Mask. Change the Midtones settings to match the color of the
sky with the background.

Step 5

Make a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #cbe36b. On this
layer mask, use a soft black brush to erase the effect on the bottom of
the sky.

Step 6

Add
a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the sky. On this layer mask, use a
soft black brush to erase the left as we're aiming to add the main light on
the right.

Step 7

On the sky layer, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and change
the Radius to 4 px. This step is to add some depth to the scene.

Step 8

Drag the meadow image into the main canvas and place it in the bottom
half. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to change the meadow's
perspective. Convert this layer to a Smart Object.

Add a mask to this layer and use a soft black brush to remove the hard
edges of the meadow and blend it with the horizon of the sky.

Step 9

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 4 px to the meadow's layer. On the filter mask,
use a soft black brush to erase the blur effect on the background and
midground, leaving the blur effect visible only on the foreground.

Step 10

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer to change the color of the
meadow. On the layer mask, paint on the right edge of the meadow to keep
some yellow light there.

Step 11

Create a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the meadow. On the layer
mask, use a soft black brush to paint on the left side and the
foreground so they won't be brightened by this adjustment layer.

Step 12

Add another Curves adjustment layer with the same purpose. The selected area in the foreground and the right shows where to paint on the layer mask.

2. How to Retouch the Giraffe

Step 1

Cut out the giraffe and place him on the area near the foreground.

Add a mask to this layer, blend the feet of the giraffe with the
grassy ground, and erase the neck. We'll replace it with a tree trunk
later.

Step 2

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray.

Activate the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range and Exposure
about 15-20% to refine the light and shadow on the giraffe. You can see
how I did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode.

Step 3

Create
a Curves adjustment layer to make the giraffe brighter. On the layer
mask, use a soft black brush to erase the shadow areas and the back side of
the giraffe.

Step 4

Make a Levels adjustment layer with the same purpose.

Step 5

Add a Color Balance adjustment layer to give some yellow to the giraffe. Alter the Midtones values:

Step 6

Make a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #e89e10 to make
the front of the giraffe more vibrant. Paint on the rest so it won't be
affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 7

To make a shadow for the giraffe, create a new layer below the giraffe
one. Hold Control and click the thumbnail of the giraffe layer to load
its selection.

Fill this selection with the color #070101 and flip it vertically (Edit
> Transform > Flip Vertical). Use Control-T with the Warp mode to
distort the shadow to fit the direction of the light source.

Lower the Opacity of the shadow to 40% and apply a Gaussian Blur of 6 px
to this shadow layer. Use a layer mask to erase unwanted details of the
shadow, and also reduce the visibility of the shadow on the top.

3. How to Create the Neck of a Tree

Step 1

Open the tree 1 image and isolate the twisted tree from the background.
Place it onto the neck of the giraffe and use Control-T with the Warp
mode to bend it following the original form of the giraffe.

Add a mask to this layer and use a medium-soft black brush to blend the
bottom of this tree part with the body of the giraffe. Lower the brush's
opacity if needed to make the blended result look better and more natural.

Step 2

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50%
gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to refine the light and shadow on this
twisted tree.

Step 3

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the tree. On the
layer mask, use a soft black brush with a lowered Opacity (about 30-35%)
to reveal some yellow on the tree.

Step 4

Make a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the tree as it looks too dark
now. Paint on the shadow areas to reduce the lightness there using this
layer mask.

Step 5

Use another Curves adjustment layer to decrease the contrast of this tree part.

Step 6

Open the giraffe image again. Drag the isolated giraffe onto the
existing giraffe, making him bigger than that one, and use Control-T to
rotate this one a bit.

Add a mask to this layer and remove most of the big giraffe, leaving some
skin texture visible only on the bottom of the tree neck. Change this
layer mode to Overlay 100%.

Step 7

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the skin texture.

4. How to Add the Branches

Step 1

Cut out the branches from the original image. Use the Lasso Tool (L) to
select two branches on both sides and place them on the top of the neck.

Step 2

On each of the branch layers, create a new layer, change the mode to
Overlay 100%, and fill with 100% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to
enhance the light and shadow on the branches.

Step 3

Make a group for the branch layers and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment
layer within this group. Increase the Saturation value a bit.

Step 4

Create a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the branches. On
the layer mask, paint on the shadow area or on the details which are
bright enough.

5. How to Import the Birds

Step 1

Cut out the bird 1 from the original image and place him onto the top of the tree neck, between the branches.

Step 2

Create a new layer below the bird's one. Use a soft brush with the color
#070101 and Opacity about 50% to paint the shadows of the bird's legs on top of the giraffe's head.

Step 3

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to match the bird's color with the
rest of the scene. Alter the Midtones and Highlights settings.

Step 4

Use
the Dodge and Burn Tool on a new layer to paint more light for the
tail, the right leg, and shadow of the left leg of the bird.

Step 5

Make a Curves adjustment layer to reduce the highlight on the upper body
of the bird. Paint on the lower body so it won't be affected by this
adjustment layer.

Step 6

Open the birds 2 image and isolate the birds from the background. Take
different birds to add to the top right of the canvas and apply a
Gaussian Blur of 2 px to each of the bird layers.

Step 7

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to change the birds' color a little.

Step 8

Create a Curves adjustment layer and increase the light for the birds.

6. How to Add the Leaves and Grass

Step 1

Open the leaves image. Use the Lasso Tool to select different leaves to add to the two branches.

Step 2

Add more leaves around the scene, near the giraffe and edges of the
canvas, scaling them to different sizes. Apply a Gaussian Blur filter
of 3 px, 4 px, and 6 px to the leaf layers depending on the size, distance, and position of the leaves. It helps to increase the depth of field.

Step 3

Group all the leaf layers into a new folder and create a Curves
adjustment layer to brighten the leaves. Paint on the hidden area of the
leaves so they won't be too bright.

Step 4

Make another Curves adjustment layer with the same purpose.

Step 5

Add the tree 2 image to the top left of the scene and apply a Gaussian Blur of 8 px to this layer.

Step 6

The light of the scene is pretty soft, so use a Curves adjustment layer to reduce the contrast of tree 2.

Step 7

Use the Dodge Tool on a new layer to decrease the shadow areas on tree 2.

Step 8

Open the grass image pack. Take different grass blades to add to the
foreground of the main scene. You can duplicate, resize, and rotate so they
appear different. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 8 px to each of the grass layers.

Step 9

Make a group for the grass layer and add a Color Balance adjustment layer to change the grass's color a bit.

Step 10

Use a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the top of the grass's blades.

7. How to Make the Final Adjustments

Step 1

Create a Color Fill layer on top of the layers and pick the color #02081f. Change this layer to Exclusion 100%.

Step 2

Make a Gradient Map adjustment layer and pick the colors #e10019 and #00601b. Alter this layer mode to Soft Light 20%.

Step 3

Add a Color Balance adjustment layer to give some vibrance to the whole scene.

Step 4

Create another Gradient Map adjustment layer and pick Copper from the Presets. Change this layer mode to Hard Light 10%.

Step 5

Make a Curves adjustment layer and decrease the lightness a bit. Use a
soft black brush to erase the right (the main light) so it won't be
affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 6

Add a Selective Color adjustment layer and alter the Reds values to desaturate the giraffe, neck, and branches a bit.

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope that you've enjoyed the tutorial and learned something new for
your own projects. Feel free to share your results or leave comments in
the box below. Enjoy Photoshopping!